> It is also a total puzzle to me why some people add apple cider vinegar, or
> honey bee healthy to their sugar solutions. I have never seen any studies that
> showed adding either accomplished any positive goal.

I had a minute, and found you exactly one. The Medline link to the abstract is
here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22459313

If you follow the link at the bottom of the abstract, you'll find that the
article itself is behind a wall, but the abstract and reference list are
available. I was able to find one reference article PDF by following the links
(Pătruică S et al. Research on the Effect of Acidifying Substances on Bee
Families Development and Health in Spring. Animal Science and Biotechnologies.
2011; 44:271-275). It showed that supplementation of 1:1 sugar syrup with either
apple cider vinegar (12.5 mL/L syrup) or lactic acid (1.5 mL/L syrup)
significantly increased brood counts at 14 and 21 days compared with controls
fed just syrup. The counts at 7 days were similar across groups.

The main author, Silvia Pătruică, appears to be a Romanian postdoc (well, at
least at the time of publication). See the acknowledgements section of that
paper.

S
Skillman, NJ

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